Love Hina The Lost Dream 1 of 6
by Tenshi Misato
Summary: Keitaro and Naru have returned from their honeymoon and find the other tenants happy to have them back. But as things seem to be turning to a happy ever after for the two lovers, a young boy, Koei Shouzen, arrives in Hinatasou..


Chapter One of Six: The Visitor In Black _(A night in the rain, brought a heart full of pain. A love lost of life made emotions full of strife.)_

A thunderstorm was brewing at Hinatasou. It was roughly six months after Keitaro and Naru's marriage, and things had been pretty pleasant at the dorms after they had returned from their honeymoon. Things were quiet and a little lonely without the two of them around, and Su especially was becoming a little depressed by Keitaro's absence, with noone to kick around anymore. Maeda Ema had made a home for herself, and things were sparking up between both her and Shinobu, strangely enough, almost in the same respect as Keitaro and Naru's relationship had first began when he first arrived at Hinatasou – with a lovely, epic incident in the girls hot spring baths. Also, Seta, Haruka and Sarah had left for so long now in search of adventure in some distant paradise, leaving Kitsune to watch over as janitor, and Motoko as guard. Though the oldest of Hinatasou's couples, with their jaded past and awkward beginnings, Seta and Haruka had been a large mirror of Keitaro and Naru's own engagement now, leaving everyone to wonder.. was history repeating itself on everyone? This strange feeling that was washing over the entire Inn was only helped along by the stormy, dark weather that was coming harder and faster with each night, like some omen on the horizon. But even though the rain pelted hard at the sides of the Inn, threatening the lives within, and even though the winds blew hard through the sakura trees and broke of branches and threw small stones up in the air, the warmth inside the building and the happiness of the people within it wouldn't falter. Within the managers room, Keitaro and the to-be Naru Urashima lay comforted by each-other in the room, holding each-other warmly, snuggling into the other from the noises which billowed outside.

"There'll be a lot of repairs to do in the morning." Keitaro sighed, exasperated, sitting up slowly with an unhappy look playing across his face, looking to the ceiling and listening to the creaking as the harsh winds brushed through the vents, finding their way through the house somehow. "Poor Moe-chan, hidden somewhere in these walls.. she must be freezing." he said, looking down to the sleepy Naru, who wasn't much listening to him, her energy played out from their long honeymoon and all the travelling they had recently done. "Maybe we should have her in one of the rooms for a while.. it must be playing heck on the poor puppets joints.. we don't want to have to keep bothering Su to fix her just because we can't take care of her properly.." he finished, as Naru slowly began sitting up and glancing at the ceiling along with him, almost instinctively listening to the sounds with her lover. "I think we should too." she agreed slowly, tiredly, and nodded, lowering her eyebrows slightly as if in worry. "Strange, it's the first time I've seen a storm this harsh at Hinatasou.. its usually always so sunny! Remember that blackout? Its worse than that night!" the girl said, glancing to her fiancé, catching his equally worried gaze. "Do you think it might be a hurricane or -" Keitaro laughed, cutting her off. "It's just torrential rain, maybe a small monsoon or something, I don't know, the most we've got to be worried about is draining the springs a bit, I think.." he replied quickly, nodding and smirking in a happy demeanor which wouldn't have her the least bit worried, hoping to put her mind at rest. "Don't worry so much.." he chuckled, kissing her cheek and pushing his forehead against her own warmly. "Nothing bads going to happen."

After a few moments of silence, Naru's eyes brightened, and she smiled gently, cuddling against him and sighing to herself, contentedly, happy to be with him. "I suppose so." she murmured. "Nothing bad's going to happen, as long as we keep believing."

Outside of the building, lightening cracked a steeple on the Inns roof, lighting up a silouette of Grandma Hina on the roof for a split second, before she disappeared into the dark of the night air again, as if watching, waiting for something, or someone. The elderly, short woman's eyes were clearly visible in the half-light as the area darkened again, her gaze peering through the shadow s of the main gate and the staircase leading up to the Inn. It was so dark that only the first few steps could be seen. But somewhere down at the bottom, someone had got off of the train cart and had made their way up the road the small walk, and now the figure was quickly approaching the Inn via the almost endless staircase, inhumanly fast and silent, the sounds of the persons approach hidden within the claps of the thunderstorm. Obviously from the size and build, it was a male who was approaching, just slightly younger than Keitaro himself, and he stopped suddenly after dashing up the long stairs to the building, panting, and lifted his head slowly to the Inn, another thunder-crack lashing down just as he did. Outside of the main-arch doors of the Hinatasou, the lone figure stood motionless in-front of the welcome-signed front door area, the glass panels on the doors wibbling from the force of the fierce gales. The boys chest was seen rising and falling, breathless from having climbed the large staircase to the building itself. Another, third thunderclap sounded in the distance, but nearer than the last two, and a flash of light resulted, illuminating the entire area for a split second in the storm. The male came into view, his long, spiked up hair, similar to Haitani's new hairstyle wafted back and forth in the strong passing gales.

From the rooftops Grandma Hina watched suspiciously, and immediately, the old womans eyes darted across the roof-tops to Motoko Aoyama, the young female Kendo Master who was already on the clothes line veranda, perched on the railings with the Youtou Hina sword slung over her back, and her own sword hilted at her waist, with her hand grasping it tightly. Indeed, the storm was some kind of omen. Who was this, stalking about in the night, like a ghost? Obviously the young swordswoman the boys figure moving around too, had noticed the new visitor was indeed a male visitor, but it was still strange to get a male near the Inn, even if it was Shirai or Haitani. Everyone was so used to having Keitaro around, they never gave any other boy a second thought much of the time. Even at this hour though, surely a person would have strange reasons to be visiting. That, he maybe there was something wrong..? In a single, fluid movement, flicking herself off of the veranda, then off of the roofing extension to the front doors, back-flipping and touching down in-front of the figure as it made its way up onto the front patio, her feet skidding slightly, splashing water, Motoko rose, and held out her sword silently, facing the person eye to eye, face to face at last. The figure stopped immediately, the boys face hidden again below his hood now, only a few flecks of dark brown hair, spiked, fluttering in the breeze, as two emerald green eyes stared out at her from the shadow of the hood, the rain beginning to batter against the pavement now.

Apart from stopping dead in his tracks, the boy didn't speak, and made no point to greet the girl. Then again, there was a blade pointed straight in his face. Perhaps he was scared.

"Speak, stranger." Aoyama ordered, staying where she was, her long black hair getting frizzed and billowed in the wind and rain. She knew better than to directly approach someone so strange and mysterious without knowing who they were, or what they could do, what they were capable of. She felt an energy from this figure.. and the small of her back crawled. There was something about him that struck her to the core, something was wrong here, definitely. Something didn't feel right! Still the figure stood, hood wafting in the winds. Suddenly, without warning, the boys two hands came up and flicked the hood over his face slowly. He looked almost exactly like Keitaro, only with a slightly fuller face, somewhere between Keitaro and Shirai's body build, and with very styled, heavily gelled spiked hair. "Mm, you're a swordswoman.. a Kendo girl." the boy said, smiling, musing to himself as he looked her up and down, as if studying her. His hair was large and spiked upwards somewhat, and it strangely didn't flatten out from the rainwater as it soaked his hair, pelting down so heavily.

Motoko's darkened face sank into a frowning expression. "What do you want here, stranger?" the Kendo-girl asked, fiercely, keeping the sword raised carefully. Rain pattered off of her swords sheathed blade, every so often resulting in a "ting" sound, almost like a haunting melody. The boy took one blink at the sword and didn't seem at all impressed by it, then immediately glanced up on the roof, to the highest point where the lightening had flashed into the steeple, giving a curious, sharp-toothed smile as he noticed the old ladies figure disappear off of the roof, obviously no longer interested. But to him.. he knew different. Hina knew who he was.. was she running away? Trying to avoid him by hiding behind this silly little Kendo-girl? Pushing his hand into his raincoat pocket silently, he pulled out a pair of small, rounded glasses with thin rims, which in turn, immediately soaked with raindrops, and put them on his face, smiling at the girl infront of him, giving her a curt nod and a gentle, graceful bow. "My name is Koei Shouzen." he said slowly, looking the girl over again. That studying expression on his face made Aoyama nervous again. Why was he looking at her so much? What was he trying to figure out about her?

Koei's accent was European, maybe even British, but he spoke Japanese with an easy tongue. He must be a traveller of some sort, or spent much time abroad. Perhaps he lived there for a while, and this was him coming.. coming where? Coming home? What did this strange boy want?

"..And I highly doubt you guarding this building would give the residents much sleep at night." he continued, chuckling playfully, as if he was taunting her. It was as if he was playing with her, two emerald eyes burning into Motoko's increasingly fragile-looking hazel eyes. He was psyching her out. Her frown grew without check, and in a snap judgement, deciding to test him, she ran forward and immediately began to slash once, twice, four times in a single moment-long movement. Koei however, flipped clear over her and her blade, only the touch of his finger on the crown of her head was felt as he landed behind her, his coat billowing from the wind. They stood like that for a few seconds, back to back, in silence. A small gash went down the coat, a ripping sound heard. Almost impossibly, Motoko had caught him, sliced his good, expensive-looking overcoat. Frowning, Koei looked down at his coat, and then turned slightly to face Motoko as she turned as well, raising her sword again and grinning at him. Sighing, seeming a little exasperated, Koei back-flipped suddenly, and went up into the air, a clean two floors of the building, and landed on the railings to the veranda via Shinobu Maehara's room. At that moment, the young girl was studying, and gave out a cry as she seen the boy flick up into view and balance on her window in the rain. His shining green eyes, illuminated by her rooms light, flashed, and he glanced around the room, seeing the young girl in nothing but a thin silken nightgown. And Motoko was soon after him with her stone splitting technique, but missed him, instead, lopping a thick textbook into a million pieces which had been thrown by Shinobu, screaming in her room, terrified of the strange boy that had just appeared in her window balcony in the thunder and lightening. Again Koei flipped higher and higher, and all that was cut was Shinobu's railings, a bit of brickwork, then air. Motoko wasn't gaining on him, if anything, she was missing a lot more now – she couldn't keep up with him. "HEY!" Shinobu cried, fuming with anger, running out and looking upwards. "Quit it Motoko! You'll tear the Inn apart!" she shouted upwards, shaking her fist. "Just chase the person away! Get him away! We don't need to KILL him now, do we!" she yelled. Motoko glanced down to Shinobu for a second as she jumped from veranda to veranda, in pursuit of Koei, and then her head snapped skyward again, and looked back up for her opponent.

And he wasn't there. Her frown grew as she climbed to the top of the building and stood on the roof carefully, glancing around. He was gone. All there was.. was a singed mast which the lightening had struck, and that was all. No Koei, nothing, it was like he had just vanished.

"The Inn's fate-guiding magic.. is threatened by this newcomer." came an elderly voice behind Motoko. Turning, swiftly, sharply, her keen eyes widened, and she bowed to the old lady in-front of her. "Grandma Hina." Motoko said, meekly, bowing lower and then standing up straight again. "I watched.. from afar. The boy gave you quite the chase, and then flipped away into the night and disappeared." the woman smiled, and pointed to the sakura trees to the left of the building, where he had made his escape. Frowning hotly, Motoko turned to go after him, but Hina's wrinkled hand pushed infront of her. "Don't." she told her, shaking her head. "Let it be." she said, placing her hands back inside of the sleeves of her kimino.

Growling slightly, the girl lowered the sword to her side, after snapping it inside of its scabbard again and looked around, unsure what to do or say next, disappointed for having let the boy escape. "Filthy pervert." she muttered. But this statement was quickly refuted by Hina. "Oh, but he was no pervert, my dear." Hina said, smiling, as Motoko looked around from the sakura trees back to the elderly grandmother. "..Koei is a grandson of a very old friend of mines.." the lady continued, and nodded. "You are from a clan of swordsmanship." Hina nodded to the trees again. "Koei there, he's a special boy. He doesn't use a sword, he doesn't need one." she said, sighing, and jumping from the roof onto the nearest clear floor, as did Motoko. "I'm sure he was here with a message, my dear, or wished for a room." She said, frowning to the swordswoman. "You should learn to be more polite. Koei isn't one to be stubborn with." she finished, looking up at the tall Kendo girl and giving a calm, collected frown. Motoko scowled and folded her arms, the two of them soaking now from the nights unfruitful pursuit. "I'll beat him next time." she replied flatly and stubbornly, in her characteristic way. Hina shook her head, smiling to herself as if she knew something that Motoko did not, and began walking into the building. "Aoyama, he most probably could have taken that sword off of you, broken it in two, put it in a blender and KO'ed you with the blender.." she answered.

"Well, we'll see." Motoko mumbled, walking in with her. "We'll see. If he comes back.. he's mine!"

From one of the Sakura trees nearby, which shook harshly in the rain and wind, the boy knelt, smiling lightly at the two of their backs as they made their way into the Inns front doors. Hina turned for a second, and closed the door afterwards, knowing that outside here somewhere, Koei still lurked in the trees. Though why he was visiting, she couldn't fathom. Without the warm light of the inside of the Inn as the door closed, the outside became cold and relentless again as the storm rolled across. The rain had not left any less either, and was only becoming fiercer through the rest of the night. It really was a torrential downpour. Again, another, final thunderclap illuminated the sakura trees, and a sharp-toothed grin shone in among the leaves for a split second, before again, disappearing into the dark..

Meanwhile, Shinobu had ran up from her floor to meet Grandma Hina and Motoko coming down the stairs, and immediately became worried, seeing Motoko's down-trodden face as she made her way to the bottom of the stairs. "What was all that about?" the young girl cried, panicking, bringing her hands up to her face, eyes watering. "Who was that? _You cut up my veranda!_" she exclaimed, waving her arms around rather dramatically, swirly eyed. Slowly, the deepened scowl returned to Motoko's face, and she looked away from Shinobu to the wall at her side, trying to hold in her temper. She hated not finishing a fight or a spar, and was now not in the best of moods, especially that she had.. maybe even lost to someone. That boy.. Koei, he had matched her speed, gone beyond it, totally avoided her over flat rooftops! She made her way past Shinobu without saying a word, teeth clenched tight in her jaw. ".. Motokochan..?" Shinobu asked meekly, turning to her as she walked past. Her eyes watered slightly more, wondering what was wrong. Still, Motoko didn't answer, and instead turned, going down the next flight of stairs to her own room.

An old, ancient-looking hand set down on Shinobu's young shoulder. "Now, never you mind getting all upset on Motoko now, Maehara." Grandma Hina nodded, walking with the young girl. "Come, you have studying to do, your entrance exams will be coming soon." she said, leading her back down the stairs. Shinobu merely glanced around, still wondering what happened with Motoko outside.. and that strange boy – who was it? "..Grandma Hina, do you know who that was..?" she asked, walking along beside the old lady, who's face seemed more confused than anything. After a few seconds of silence, Hina nodded. "Yes." she simply replied, but didn't go any further into the conversation. Shinobu was about to ask something else when they arrived to her room, but fell silent. "Go study child... then sleep comfortably knowing nothing is wrong." the old lady said, bowing to her as Shinobu slid open her room door, her expression still begging for answers. "..And Keitaro will fix your railings tomorrow morning." Hina smirked, beginning to make her way back down the hall again. After another few seconds, Shinobu nodded and gave a gentle smile, happy to have her sempai's company for a day, at least. T

Suddenly, there was a loud scream downstairs, and Grandma Hina twitched nervously, a sweatdrop sliding down her head as Keitaro's sister Kanako threw herself up the stairs as quickly as her feet could carry her, until she got infront of her grandmother and Shinobu, jumping up and down excitedly, which was not very usual for her normal dark and gothic, reserved personality.

"Koei-kun was outside!" she yelled, smiling widely, something she rarely done and hopped up and down again. "Why didn't you let him in?" Hina shook her head and smiled, though her face hid a knot in her stomach which was increasingly growing. "Aoyama thought it would be nice to have a lovely little midnight workout with him." the old woman laughed, sighing and shaking her head. "..he disappeared." Kanako frowned at her answer, her arms falling to her sides. Slowly, her brow lowered into a frown, and she was back to her normal irritable mood. "..Motoko always ruins everything.." she grumbled to herself just loud enough for Shinobu and Hina to hear her feelings, and then began going back down the stairs.

"I heard that!" Motoko cried up the stairs from the kitchen area. With hot retort, Kanako shouted back at her. "_BAKA!_" she screeched down the stairs at the Kendo-girl. A rabble started between the two hot-tempered girls, and Hina shook her head, sighing. Shinobu was still standing by her room door, hands clasped together. ".. Koei..?" she repeated quietly. ".. Who is he..?" she asked, tilting her head, questioning to herself. The boy who was outside, that Motoko chased..? Laughing again, Hina merely shook her head and glanced back to Shinobu. "He's.. a visitor, that's all." the woman said, turning and patting Shinobu on the shoulder. "Go on now girl, go and get some sleep. Close your windows, its very windy."

Shinobu frowned at the comment about closing the windows, wondering why, but did as told. It wasn't even windy anymore, just rain. She made her way back into her room and closed the door quietly, clicking it and locked it shut, beginning to go through her study books. After a while she found herself thinking.. what did Grandma Hina know about the new visitor? She didn't seem very worked up that a boy had scaled the entire roof of the girls dormitory, had basically totally escaped Motoko's clutches, and hadn't explained the past that Kanako and Koei obviously shared somehow. What was this all about?

Outside, Koei smiled, sitting, legs folded, on a railing attached to the overhanging veranda of an un-used room, the insides dark and unlit. This would be his room soon, he grinned to himself, a large, detailed plan beginning to form in his head. Seated on this railing, his back was propped against one of the walls of the building, as he looked up at the dark night sky, the stars glimmering gently in the lightly spread clouds, and his head protected by the rain by the roof of the Inn, the steady stream of rain droplets spewing over the edge of the roof and falling line-neatly into gravel ground at the front doors where he had first encountered Motoko, and where the whole mess had began that night.

"We have a visitor tomorrow." Hina added, before she disappeared around a corner and out of sight as the lights of the Hinatasou all began to flicker out for bed-time. Shinobu nodded to herself, hearing the grandmother from down the hall, nodded silently and slowly opened a thick study book, to begin revision for the night, though her mind was more on the things that had happened just then, than the subject at hand..

The sun began to rise slowly on the horizon. Already, birds had begun twittering in the gentle half-light of the morning.

That morning, Hinatasou was beckoning the morning after the terrible storm, and things seemed like nothing had happened the night before at all – perhaps of course, for Shinobu's veranda railings of course, which were still shredded. At the front doors, shining in the sun, there was a quick, rather perky knock at the glass – and then a second for good measure. Walking past the front doors in the main lobby hall, Naru was the first to hear the knock, and immediately turned to answer it. Immediately, the young woman stood frozen in place as she saw the figure standing in the doorway. Also, Shinobu almost came tumbling down the stairs at a frenzied pace, having heard the knock, grabbing the banister as she came to the last four stairs, blinking across the lobby to the main doors. She had been waiting all night and all morning to hear that knock.. and to see the face of this new visitor.

Again, the same hooded figure from last night stood on the doorstep outside, unable to enter inside for the locked front doors, and the two girls twitched and sweatdropped at the morbid-looking figure. A bony, thin looking but unmistakably masculine hand suddenly slid out from underneath the cloak, and casually pressed the doorbell, setting off a cute little tune. The long piano-fingers then retracted, and the big hood tilted to the side as it peered in through the glass. The two girls stared at the hand for a moment, their eyes widening, and went into a fit of screaming. "KKYYAAAHH! Deaths at the doorstep!" Naru squealed, tears pouring out her eyes as she and Shinobu clung to eachother. Through the panic, Shinobu's face went blank for a moment, her legs quaking under her as she began trying to stumble back up the stairs to get away from the horrifying apparition. Hearing the screaming from all the way over in the landlord's room, Keitaro Urashima sighed to himself, eyes closed, and pushed his glasses up on his nose, pressing the button to allow visitors through the main doors. As soon as he pressed the permission button, the front doors clicked open, the lock clipping to the side to allow entry. Just outside, the figure snickered playfully under the hood, the boney hand falling to the ground, obviously fake. A normal, human hand then popped out, and pushed the door for to open it and walk in.

Naru stood panting by the side of the hall, eyes wide, and Shinobu shuddered in fear on the stairs. Both slowly looked down at the human hand, and fell over anime style. A sigh came from the hood as two hands came up and pulled it back, revealing the slender face, harsh and shadowed eyes and spiked hair. Immediately, the characteristic hair was recognisable to Shinobu, who slowly stood up to her feet, her knees shaking, looking at the boy for a second, who's slight frown at her didn't make her feel at all comfortable. ".. Koei ..?" Shinobu mumbled slightly, as if guessing his name.

Her guess was right. Koei blinked at her, his attention caught, and then to Naru, who again took a step back. "You fell." he stated simply, rather flatly, turning fully to Naru, sitting on her bottom on the floor. "Eh heh.. sorry.." Naru muttered, getting up slightly, holding out a hand a moment, expecting help from the boy in getting up, which she didn't receive of course. Koei stared down at her blankly, and quirked a brow. "What are you doing?" he questioned her, making a face at her like she was some kind of idiot. Naru frowned slightly as she got up, and then sighed, folding her arms around herself, feeling colder in the boys presence. "Your the new student, here to stay. Grandma Hina wanted you to stay here because your the grandson of a good friend of hers." she said, looking him over carefully, making it clear it wasn't her idea to let him stay here, nor Keitaro's. "She.. said your pretty smart… as well as some kind of self-trained martial arts expert. We've got our own Kendo master." she smiled, proudly.

Koei laughed to himself, and shrugged at them, his arms hanging loosely and casually at his sides. "I'm not all that smart, really. I'm a little surprised she said that. And I'm not exactly an expert at fighting either, I just tend to like sparring a lot. The thing is.. MOST people just aren't that intelligent.. or strong, for that matter." Just then, Motoko walked into the lobby reading a thin English textbook studying, and blinked at Koei only once, looking to her book again as she kept walking, obviously not recognising him, at least immediately anyway. Koei grinned playfully as he looked the young Kendo girl over. "..And your guards-lady sucks as a swordswoman. Her Kendo's lame." he chuckled, a sudden smirk coming across his face, the first readable expression he had made coming into the building. Motoko froze, and tensed slowly, immediately recognising the voice and arrogant comments. Slowly, she turned back around to him. Her eyes met his and narrowed. Naru and Shinobu sweatdropped, and slowly began walking backwards to get out of their way.

"WWAAIII!" came a sudden, familiar cry from the first floor landing. "Visitoooooorrrr!" Kaolla Su cried, flying past Shinobu, bouncing off the wall, and hurtling herself towards Koei in the usual Keitaro-killing fly-kick style. Koei merely stood to one side, dis-amused, letting Su fly straight past him into some dustbins with a loud clattering. "Ohh.." the girl mumbled and moaned, rubbing her blonde hair. ".. That didn't feel gooooodd..." she stumbled, and fell flat on her back, unconscious, swirly-eyed and dizzy. The remaining three girls and Koei all stared blankly for a moment, before looking back at each-other and rolling their eyes. "Now then." Koei said, slapping his hands together almost excitedly. ".. Wheres my room?" he asked. "I have work to do, if no-one minds.." he said quietly, flipping a bag over his shoulder and walking past Motoko, who slowly scowled, and stomped into the kitchen, enraged by him

Birds were whistling in the sakura trees outside, flapping from tree to tree and ruffling their feathers, the sun now high over the Hinatasou building, now much later in the day.

At this time of day, once Koei's room was sorted, and everything was unpacked, he sat out on the clothesline area of the building where the white washing billowed back and forth in the wind, laying back on a Lilo for to relax. Drawing on a small sketchpad, he yawned quietly, and stared up at the sky, the yellow sun warming his face. After a half hour or so, Shinobu came out quietly with all intent on taking in today's dry laundry for everyone, and leaned over him, looking at the drawing, which was of a boy in the snow at night. She smiled slightly to herself, remembering this image a little like when Keitaro had drawn her smiling down on the bridge when they first met. Maybe this drawing would turn out to be just as important to her. ".. That's a pretty sad looking drawing.." she said to him, tilting her head to the side and puffing slightly, unhappy to see such a sad image.

"Thanks very much." he tutted sarcastically, getting up slowly off of the Lilo. "Honestly Koei Shouzen, you'd think that it'd take a miracle to strike up a conversation with you, your so cold to everyone, and your just here. You should try making friends with some of us, maybe things would go easier for you. Why are you so irritable..?" Shinobu sighed. "There IS no such things as miracles.." Koei said, smiling solemnly up at the young girl. For a second, he seemed almost like he was going to cry, which was an awkward change from his so far emotionless face. Slowly, he looked back down and continued drawing, finishing off some snowdrops on the picture, before slapping the pad shut, and closing his eyes, raising his arms behind his head and stretching out on the Lilo again to sunbathe. Shinobu stared, then blinked, standing in disbelief of the comment he had just given her. Hinatasou had helped so many people achieve their dreams of getting into Tokyo University, it had helped the romance between Naru and Keitaro blossom into an eventual engagement, and its strength had defeated the accursed spell of the annex that Keitaro's step-sister Kanako had brought on the two lovers. Of all the rumors surrounding Hinatasou.. of all that had happened.. still, Koei didn't believe in miracles. He didn't believe in hope.

"If you don't believe in anything, how can you love anyone..? Surely you'd need to believe in something to believe someone can love you, right?" she asked, frowning concernably. Koei didn't answer. Instead, he began getting up off of the Lilo, and then he walked past her, leaving her alone on the laundry balcony. Shinobu continued to frown, and turned to see him, watching him walk back into the building, and into the dorm room upstairs, alone. She watched by the clothing wafting on the line, her eyes on Koei's room window as he walked into his room, and sat under his Kotatsu, picking up a pencil and scribbling. Books and textpads littered his Kotatsu tabletop, dog-eared and aged.

"He's an odd one, your new friend, to be sure." Hina said suddenly, making her way up to the young girl from behind a load of the billowing sheets on the washing line. Shinobu jumped at the voice, spinning around awkwardly to the old lady, and bowed in greeting shyly. "Maehara, don't feel bad for Koei. He hasn't been brought up like many others here. Both his parents have never really been at home, and he has had no best friend in his entire life. Not that this should be any excuse for his abject behaviour, but we should at least try to understand him.. as I am." she continued. Shinobu sighed. "..At least I got to see both my parents from time to time. Poor boy.." the girl said, blinking sadly back at Koei's window for a second, as he continued writing or scribbling on the paper he was using.. Hina smiled to herself. "You, of all people, should understand him most of all, Maehara. Your family life hasn't exactly been.. to be frank, peaches 'n cream either, has it?" Shinobu frowned at Hina's comment, but nodded all the same - because it was true. "Maybe I should try talking to him sometime.." she replied.

"I doubt that would help." the old lady replied, turning her back to the young girl and looking up to the sunny sky, her aged face crackling with a smile as she watched the clouds fly past in the sky slowly and surely, as they did every day in her long life. "He has a strong soul, the boy. He doesn't NEED people. If he wants someone in his company, it's for his own interests, or needs." she said, looking back to her again, her brow lowering seriously for a moment. "Do you know what Koei's name means, Maehara?" Shinobu shook her head slowly in reply, her lips pursed slightly. "..It means Lonely Personality." she finished.

Shinobu's eyes watered slightly at the cruel name. His parents gave him that.. as a name? she wondered to herself, shaking her head slightly and putting up some more washing quietly. What a cruel life, to be called such a thing and be constantly reminded of its meaning.. but he didn't have to live up to it, surely! "Koei is a very lost young man." Hina continued talking to Shinobu, walking up to her closer, the girls back to the old lady now as they began un-clipping the various clothes on the washing line and putting them into a basket. Hina brought up her walking stick and prodded slightly into Shinobu's back. "I'll give you this warning, Maehara." she said, poking the small of her back to make sure Shinobu was getting the point. "Koei's heart is so lost that even the fate magic of Hinatasou cannot fix it. And neither will you. No one person can fix another persons problems." muttered the old lady, walking away, leaving the girl with that to think about as she took in the last of the washing.

Shinobu had stopped again, her hands frozen, clasping the line tightly, as if upset. Not due to the prod of course, things were merely going through her mind at a mad pace, as she thought through everything that Grandma Hina had said. She knew she probably wouldn't even be allowed into Koei's room, never-mind speak to him. And perhaps that was the way Koei wanted it.. to stay alone, in the dark of his room. And then something popped into her head, an idea, a light in the dark.

..."No one person can fix anothers problems"... she repeated Hina's words in her mind. Turning, she suddenly began making her way down from the clothesline area into the building, her large, piled-up basket of clothes in her hands, heading for Motoko's room as quickly as she could. .. Then maybe ALL of us can help.. Together.. she smiled to herself, opening the door and running through the building to find the young Kendo girl, as quickly as possible.


End file.
